Tower Liquors sale approved

The owners of Tower Liquors in North Branch have been attempting to sell the business and transfer its liquor license for more than two years.

At the Monday North Branch City Council meeting, those efforts finally came to fruition.

The council voted 4-0—Councilmember Kathy Blomquist was absent—to allow owners Kathy Peterson and her husband to sell the business to Sergey Nazaranka and his company, BKAHA TLNB Inc.

The Petersons previously had a purchase agreement with Jerry’s Foods, the entity that owns County Market, but the sale never happened.

Kathy Peterson told the council in a letter the purchase agreement had been terminated, and City Attorney Thomas Miller told the council he saw “no liability issues” in allowing the liquor license transfer from Tower to BKAHA TLNB Inc.

“It’s about time,” Councilmember Theresa Furman said.

Fire truck

Also during the meeting, the council authorized the fire department to purchase a used fire truck.

The vehicle, a 1990 E1 Hurricane 95-foot platform truck, is currently in Union Grove, Ala. As part of the purchase agreement, the city agreed to send someone to go retrieve the truck.

The price of the truck is $99,900. The city will finance the purchase via equipment certificate and funds from the Fire Relief Charitable Gambling Association and money from the city’s municipal liquor store fund.